1. Technical Field
The field of the invention is the hydraulic systems of a gas turbine engine of an aircraft.
2. Background Art
A gas turbine engine of an aircraft conventionally comprises several hydraulic systems for conveying fuel or oil to supply the members of the engine.
By way of example, a gas turbine engine includes a hydraulic system through which the fuel runs. In a known manner, the hydraulic system includes a fuel filter set up to catch impurities in the fuel circulating in the system. The fuel filter can only catch a limited quantity of impurities. Once the fuel filter reaches its saturation threshold, the filter is deemed to be obstructed.
In order to ensure the reliability of the hydraulic system, patent application FR2927003A1 filed by the company SNECMA introduced a method for detecting the obstruction of a filter using pressure measurements. Furthermore, an obstruction sensor for monitoring the fuel filter to detect obstruction is known.
Conventionally, an obstruction sensor includes a deformable membrane and a set of strain gauges, also known as strain gauge resistors, which are built into the deformable membrane to form a Wheatstone bridge, known to the person skilled in the art, enabling detection of the pressure difference between the two faces of the deformable membrane and therefore an obstruction of the filter.
In a known manner, the obstruction sensor of the fuel filter is linked to the monitoring input of a processor on board the engine of the aircraft, the processor being known to the person skilled in the art by the English acronym FADEC “Full Authority Digital Engine Control”. The processor thereby makes it possible to continuously monitor the state of the fuel filter using the obstruction sensor.
The fuel supply system includes, in addition to the first fuel filter, known as the main fuel filter, a second fuel filter, hereinafter referred to as the auxiliary fuel filter, set up to catch impurities upstream and downstream of the pump in the hydraulic fuel supply system.